About The Sunrise
The Sunrise Theater has a rich history of serving the people of Moore county, dating all the way back to 1898. Originally built as a Hardware store, the Sunrise was the very first all brick building in downtown Southern Pines. It wasn’t until 1941, when the building was purchased by W.P Benner, that it was used to show movies. Benner remodeled the building and attached neon lighting to the marquee that is still in use today. At the time, the theater sat 825 people! The first film screened was “Reaching for the Sun” on September 25th, 1941 starring Joel McCrea and Ellen Drew.
With the wrecking ball looming, something miraculous happened. The community decided it wasn’t finished with this space and the Sunrise was saved by a citizen’s committee who raised $150,000 in 1981. The Sunrise became the Performing Arts Center in 1983 and was operated under the stewardship of the Arts Council of Moore County. Many refurbishments occurred during this time. The nice heartwood pine doors, made from locally sourced long-leaf pine, were installed. The wainscoting, which was a gift from Theater Antiques and originally was located at the Biltmore Hotel in NYC, was adorned upon the lobby. The box office was retrofitted from what had once been Bob Dutton’s office and made to be able to sell tickets.
On December 1, 1944 W.P. Benner announced he was selling the theater to Stewart Everett Theaters. One of the conditions of the sale was that the theater would continue to be named the Sunrise and a young man named Bob Dutton was to remain on staff as the manager. He would go on to manage the Sunrise for 40 years! During that era of the Sunrise tickets cost 9 cents. This was due in large part to a tax placed on tickets costing more than a dime during WW2. Eventually, interest in the theater waned in the late 1970’s and Stewart Everett theaters closed the Sunrise in June of 1982 with Blade Runner being the last film screened.
